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Jeopardy: The Sudbury edition

Reem Fattouh can’t remember a time in her life when she didn’t watch Jeopardy. From an early age, the more she watched, the more she learned. “I grew up watching it with my family,” Fattouh said. Since then, it’s been her dream to be on the show.
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Her fellow Sudburian and Jeopardy host, Alex Trebek, put Reem Fattouh’s considerable brainpower to the test on the long-running TV game show. Watch the episode when it airs Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. to find out how Fattouh did. Supplied photo.

Reem Fattouh can’t remember a time in her life when she didn’t watch Jeopardy. From an early age, the more she watched, the more she learned.


“I grew up watching it with my family,” Fattouh said.

Since then, it’s been her dream to be on the show. Fattouh, web editor at Science North, made that dream a reality by entering the online contestant search this past January.

“The test consisted of 50 questions on various topics,” Fattouh said. “You have 15 seconds to type your answer and you don’t get feedback. So, you have no idea if it’s right or wrong.”

Fattouh didn’t hear back from the show until four months later when they requested an in-person interview in Toronto along with 80 other potential contestants.

“It was essentially a screen test,” Fattouh said. “To see what your personality was like, if you look good on TV and whether you can answer the questions.”

Participants also learned the logistics of the game — like when to buzz in.

“You aren’t supposed to buzz in until the clue is finished being read,” Fattouh said. “You’re signaling device will be locked out for a quarter of a second.”

Fattouh felt she did pretty well, but had no idea if she was going to be selected.
Then, in August, she received the call she’d been waiting for.

“For it to actually happen was pretty awesome,” she said.

By the end of September, she was in Los Angeles for the taping and was shaking hands with former Sudburian and Jeopardy host, Alex Trebek.

“He’s very nice,” she said. “He told me that in the 30 years that he’s been hosting the show, I was the first contestant from Sudbury that he could recall.”

How Fattouh did remains a surprise till Monday evening.


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Heather Green-Oliver

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